You are pregnant… and happy about it……. but…. ooops…. you are still breastfeeding your 15 month old baby. Now what should you do? Well, how you proceed depends entirely up to you, your health and of course, your 15 month old baby will have a say in this also!
If you are experiencing a normal pregnancy with no known health issues, you will be happy to know that there is no evidence stating that you need to wean. Your unborn baby will not be deprived of vital nutrients during the pregnancy while you continue to breastfeed your 15 month old. During pregnancy, mothers have contractions not just caused by breastfeeding, but also by sexual activity, and both are normal.
Some mothers and babies will remain totally comfortable breastfeeding during a pregnancy. Others will experience symptoms that are perhaps slightly annoying and others might have sensations that are just too painful to continue. Nipple sensitivity is fairly common and for some mothers it is just a general soreness that is no big deal. Other mothers describe painful nipples that are enough to motivate them to wean.
It is common for the milk production to decrease during the early part of the second trimester. For some babies, they are quite tenacious and just go for it anyway. Other babies become annoyed, impatient and lose interest and this causes them to wean. The milk also tends to change its “flavor”, perhaps because of hormonal changes. When this happens, some babies are again, quite tenacious and just carry on and others are just done, done, done as they do not like this change in flavor. Sometimes when babies wean themselves during pregnancy, we are not sure exactly why. Was it the low or almost no supply? Was it the taste of the milk? Were they having difficulties finding a comfy spot on their mommies lap? Or did they just naturally get distracted with their daily life and self wean?
Most important news is that unless there is a very specific documented reason for doing so, there is no reason to purposefully wean, just because you are pregnant. Speak with your healthcare provider about this. If the advise is to wean, you might consider asking for the research stating the need to. For reasons that might be different than anything I mentioned or out of the ordinary, you are welcome to send me an email with the information as I love to learn new information to be able to share with my clients and readers.
